–ECB Board Member Bini Smaghi To Step Down Towards End Of Year
BRUSSELS (MNI) – European Leaders meeting here have finalized the
choice of Mario Draghi to become the next president of the European
Central Bank, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council
announced Friday via Twitter, in what must be a communications precedent
for EU Summits.
Draghi, who is the governor of the Bank of Italy, will accede to
his new post on November 1, when the eight-year term of current ECB
President Jean-Claude Trichet ends.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid having two ECB Executive Board members
of the same nationality, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi has agreed to resign his
seat on the board by the end of the year, Italy’s daily Corriere della
Sera reported.
That will make room for France to name a French national to the
board. With Trichet’s retirement, France would no longer have
representation on the board without naming somebody new.
Bini Smaghi is in the running to replace Draghi at the Bank of
Italy. But he is widely reported not to enjoy the support of Italian
Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti. Other candidates to succeed Draghi
include Fabrizio Saccomani, the Bank of Italy’s director general, and
Vittorio Grilli, director general of the Economy Ministry.
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